ANC committee to decide South African leader’s fate

The Gaza Post| The News of Palestine-Cape Town

A key committee of South Africa’s ruling ANC party intends to finalize a power transition that would see the deputy president take over from President Jacob Zuma, who is under pressure to resign because of corruption allegations.

The national executive committee of the African National Congress will discuss Zuma’s fate at a meeting Monday afternoon that many South Africans hope will end a period of political limbo in one of Africa’s biggest economies.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday that he recognized South Africans want a resolution to the leadership crisis and that the ruling party committee would provide it.

Susan Booysen, professor of politics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, said the president could potentially hold on for longer, though any delay would damage the ANC.

“The ANC is trying to project this image of a party with a new drive and momentum but this is such a mess-up. Any recent gains are not irreversible even if the inexorable overall direction of travel is clear and Zuma has his back to the wall,” Booysen said.

The 68-year-old former trade union leader has said South Africa is coming out of a “period of uncertainty, a period of darkness, and getting into a new phase”.

The ANC will also face a long period of adjustment, and introspection. “Zuma will leave a legacy of disbelief and embarrassment and a sense of ‘how could we let this happen?’. There is so much disrepute from this era that it is difficult to contemplate,” said Booysen.